Singer Jim Arrendell plans all-star show in Asheville

Jim Arrendell could be described as a bit of Phil Collins mixed with Adam Sandler, but that combination has nothing to do with his music.

By JASON GILMERFor the Herald-Journal

Jim Arrendell is a bit of Phil Collins mixed with Adam Sandler and that combination has nothing to do with his music.The soulful, rhythm and blues singer was once a drummer pushed to the forefront of a band and he's still a wedding singer.Getting to the point of being comfortable with his own music took some time.“I never had any desire to record my own stuff, much less put on a show with it, because I can't stand the idea of boring people to death with my own music,” the Asheville musician said. “Being in the party band for a few years, especially as a front person, gave me a different perspective on how to relate to an audience and how to make it fun and how to write for that situation.”Arrendell will release his first solo album during a show at 9 p.m. Saturday night at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, N.C.His music is comparable to Al Green and Robert Cray and it's a sound that's been honed for years as part of Asheville's music scene.With his group, The Business, Arrendell does 30 to 40 weddings a year across the Southeast, plays private parties and had a weekly engagement at the Grove Park Inn for more than year and a half that recently stopped.The album was recorded with The Business and his other side project, The Cheap Suits. When they all hit the stage on Saturday, there will be 10 musicians and Arrendell blowing through a set of covers from favorites like Bill Withers, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles and Arrendell's original material.“I started writing some music that kept with the Motown, old soul stuff we played on a regular basis,” he said.The compiled an all-star lineup of Asheville's best R&B musicians and went into the studio last year.The band playing on Friday includes Jacob Rodriguez (baritone saxophone), Scott Mills (tenor saxophone), Ben Hovey (trumpet), Tom Leiner (guitar), Joey K (drums), Rob Geisler (bass), Duane Simpson (guitar), Jamar Woods (keyboards) and background singers Kellin Watson and Caitlin Krisko.“There's a lot of draw other than me. There's some fantastic talent on the stage all at once,” Arrendell said. “The relationship and camaraderie of the musicians in the Asheville music scene is very tight. People respect each other and support each other and would have shown up for free, but I didn't ask them to do that.”Arrendell doesn't plan to tour with the record. Not yet, anyway, because it's too costly to take the entire band on the road, he said.“We're going to see what kind of reaction we're going to get out of the record before we put it on the road and try to scrounge up an audience,” he said. “All the musicians I work with are professional-level musicians who have families and bills. “This isn't what I would have done in my youth, if I was a young guy with no responsibilities I would have hit the road. I can scale down and put it on the road with a small band, but I don't feel like doing that either.”